The Solo CEO of Everything? Yes, Everything.
No team. No partner. Just a business to run and family to feed. From keynotes to scrubbing toilets - how I prioritize when survival is the only metric that counts.
When people talk about planning and prioritizing, they’re not talking to me.
They’re talking to someone who probably has help — either at home or at work. Someone they can pass off some of the less important things to.
That’s not me.
I am a solo-CEO of “Everything.” I run a sole proprietorship, I’m a single mother, and I am the only child to an aging mother.
Everything in my life runs through me: I decide what events I present at, and I decide when the toilets get cleaned. And odds are, I’m doing both on the same day.
My children are now baby adults, so they don’t need me as much for daily life things, but they still rely on me. My mom is still largely capable and self-sufficient; she doesn’t need me for a lot — yet.
I also run a solo business as a strategic advisor. I have client calls all week, on top of the general business maintenance stuff
And none of this is “new.” I became an only child when my sister died the same month my oldest was born. I became a single parent 6 months later when my daughter’s father decided parenthood wasn’t for him. And once you’re a single parent, you’re always a single parent — even in a new relationship.
I also started my first business when my oldest was 12 and my youngest was 2, because I needed the flexibility to be there for them as I went through a divorce.
I had to learn, fast, how to prioritize my time so that “everything” got done. And by everything, I mean the things that meant the difference between survival and homelessness.
The Only Metric that Mattered: "Will this Keep Us Alive?"
Yes, you read that right. The metric by which I determined what got done was: “Will it result in our survival as a family?”
When you’re the only one providing financially and emotionally for the family, a lot of things get cut.
And guess what doesn’t fall under that metric? Just about any “busy work.”
The full-Sunday deep-cleaning sessions got swapped out for some spray bleach and the cleaning standards of a 12-year-old girl. Making sure everything in my business looked “pretty” and polished was abolished.
This is the origin for one of my core philosophies and catchphrases:
Pretty doesn’t sell.
What this means is that I prioritized Revenue Generating Activities (RGAs) first and foremost. If it didn’t immediately generate revenue, or wasn't part of the path to future revenue, it stayed on the to-do list until time freed up. (Which has not happened yet.)
My other absolute priority was the emotional well-being of my children. And if these two priorities were pitted against each other? The kids won every time, even if that meant we were late on bills.
The Shift: RGAs in the Modern Sales Cycle
The challenge over the years is that what qualifies as a revenue-generating activity has changed a lot since I started in 2010.
It used to be simple to run a digital business: toss out a few social posts, send an email or two, and boom—clients.
Now? It might take 6 months of social posts for a new client to feel the trust required to simply reach out.
So how do you prioritize RGAs when the sales cycle takes 3 to 6 months instead of six minutes?
You stop treating all RGAs like instant vending machines and start treating them like an investment portfolio.
In the early 2010s, prioritization meant doing things that made money today. Now, when noise is high and trust is scarce, being a Solo CEO means balancing the actions that pay you this week with the actions that build the trust stack for six months from now — without letting either sink your business.
The Revenue Generating Activity Heirarchy
Tier 1: Immediate Survival Priorities (Do These First)
If you need survival money, this is where 80% of your business energy goes:
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Direct Outreach & Reactivation: Emailing past clients, reaching out to warm network contacts, or pitching warm leads directly.
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Making Direct Offers: Sending an email with a clear “Book a Call” CTA, pitching on a call, or putting a service page in front of someone who already knows you.
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Delivering Client Work: Keep your existing clients paying you, and keep retaining them.
Tier 2: Trust-Building Priorities (Do These Next)
General social media posting is mostly background noise today. Real RGAs in modern digital businesses are about building proof of depth:
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High-Intent Visibility: Being a guest on a niche podcast, speaking on a stage, or showing up where someone else has already built the audience’s trust.
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1:1 Relationship Depth: Leaving thoughtful audio notes, exchanging real DMs, or having 15-minute virtual coffees with strategic peers.
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Proof of Expertise: Publishing long-form, deeply opinionated pieces (like this article) that demonstrate your strategic thinking so clearly that a prospect thinks, “I need her in my business.”
Tier 3: The Assets (Build Once, Use Repeatedly)
Simple, High-Value Lead Magnet: A tight, 2-page asset or video that turns anonymous social viewers into email subscribers. The key is high value—something someone would pay for, and something AI can't replicate.
Clear Core Offer Page: A simple, high-converting offer page with clear pricing and outlines so trust built elsewhere converts without back-and-forth friction. Yes, put your pricing there. Making people jump through hoops only to find they can’t afford it is not a sales strategy.
What STILL Doesn't Count as an RGA
To protect your time (and maybe even get a bit of free time), you have to be absolutely ruthless about what gets cut. These activities do not pay your mortgage; they just distract you from the work you know you need to do:
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Rebranding your website or tweaking Canva templates for three hours.
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Posting generic advice on social media just to satisfy an algorithm.
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Building complex product funnels or new offers before talking directly to potential buyers.
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Attending unstructured “networking groups” where everyone is selling and nobody is buying.
Stripping Away the Noise
When you’re running everything in life and business on your own, you don’t have the luxury of playing business. You don’t have time to manage bloated systems, polish graphics, or chase pointless metrics.
Prioritization isn’t about fitting more into your day — it’s about stripping away every single task that doesn’t feed your family or build real, durable trust with the people who need your brain.
If your business feels overwhelming right now, stop asking: "How do I get all of this done?"
Start asking: “If I could only do ONE thing today that secures revenue or deepens trust, what is it?”
Do that thing first. Let the spray bleach do its job. Let the Canva templates stay plain.
Because pretty doesn’t sell.
Survival and substance do.
If you’re a Solo-CEO tired of bloated business advice and ready for practical, low-noise strategy, subscribe to get my latest articles here.
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